OpticIQ Lab puts the AXIS Communications Q1728 CCTV camera through its paces

Published by Australian security industry publication Security Electronics & Networks (SEN), the latest OpticIQ Lab test report focuses in on the footage quality of new AV1-enabled camera.

Above: The AXIS Q1728 faces up against the ViDiLabs OpticIQ test chart v.5.3.

In this latest series of testing, Optic Security Group Product Innovation Manager and OpticIQ Lab chief Vlado Damjanovski put the new AXIS Communications Q1728 block camera through its paces.

A full-body style camera with a built-in motorised lens with a range of 5.9mm – 13.3mm, the AXIS Q1728 is also available in a model that has longer focal length, ranging from 15.2mm – 48.7mm.

“We were particularly curious about this model because it is a 4K [3840 x 2160] resolution camera with a very large CMOS sensor of 1/1.2-inch [11.25 mm x 7 mm],” said Vlado, “but mainly we were intrigued because it features the newly introduced video compression codec AV1.”

The tests conducted by the OpticIQ Lab are designed to comply with the Australian and New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 62676 – Video surveillance systems for use in security application, which was published in 2020.

“In addition to testing, developing, and deploying solutions enabled by emerging security technologies, such as advanced analytics and AI, the OpticIQ Lab is a centre of excellence in the testing of CCTV camera optics and image quality,” said Group Brand Strategy & Innovation Director Nicholas Dynon.

“There is keen interest among CCTV and video surveillance practitioners and users for the scientific testing conducted by the team at the OpticIQ Lab,” he said, “and we look forward to publishing what will be a regular series of test reports.”

The New AV1 compression codec

Introduced by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), which was founded by Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netflix, the AV1 codec is already used by YouTube for streaming purposes.

“AV1 is a royalty-free compression, comparable to the existing H.265 compression in quality and bandwidth, and twice as efficient as H.264,” said Vlado.

But just how this new codec will be introduced in CCTV broadly is yet to be seen.

“Axis Communications already provides free APIs and says some VMS manufacturers have included it in their latest software,” Vlado continued. “That said, unless you have the software decoder installed on your VMS, chances are you can’t use AV1 yet.”

Since the camera offered the existing H.264 and H.265 compressions in addition to AV1, the Lab conducted a comparative analysis of the recording quality achieved by each compression type based on a common reference video sequence.

 Above: Photo opportunity: Lab chief Vlado Damjanovski in between testing rounds.

The results

According to the test results, the AV1 compression achieves similar efficiency (bandwidth) to H.265 for the given quality, if not marginally higher, while producing exceptional video quality.

“Both H.265 and AV1, outperform H.264, not only in the detail of the video, but also – importantly – in minimising the artefacts of moving objects in the scene,” stated Vlado.

But, he warned, consideration should be given to the GPU power of your VMS client PC. “We recommend that if you are considering AV1 you should also consider a relatively powerful GPU,” he said. “This will result in smoother and more detailed video.”

“With the above in mind, if you operate, or are planning to operate, a VMS that supports AV1 decoding (such as the ACP Pro v.6.9), this new AXIS Q1728 camera offers high video quality while optimising bandwidth and extending storage.”

More information

To read the full AXIS Q1728 test report visit the SEN website.

To find out more about OpticIQ, view the OpticIQ page on this website.

OpticIQ, a division of Optic Security Group, researches and develops emerging security technologies, and advises in relation to technology risk and Responsible AI. The Adelaide-based OpticIQ Lab is a sovereign centre of excellence for the independent testing, training, and optimising of advanced optical, analytic and AI-enabled security technologies.